Colorado’s Falling Worker Freedom Grade Highlights Bill Ritter Legacy

Americans for Tax Reform is out with its annual Index of Worker Freedom this week. The idea is to look on a state-by-state basis to determine the extent of employee individual rights and freedoms in workplaces based on the laws and policies of their respective states.

ATR looks at whether a state has Right-to-Work laws, paycheck protection, what the share of public and private sector union membership is, etc. In December 2007, when the Index was first released, Colorado received an A-minus (MP3).

This year?

Colorado earned a B. Not bad, but we seem to be going in the wrong direction. I can’t imagine the past few years with Bill Ritter as governor had anything to do with that! [/sarcasm]

What brought our grade down? Some you probably guessed right off the top: no right-to-work law, no paycheck protection law. But ATR also notes our constitutional amendment with a minimum wage indexed to inflation and a slew of health insurance mandates greater than the national average.